When it comes to the safety of children and other loved ones, sometimes it pays to be overly protective. How many people have been stung by scorpions merely because they failed to check their shoes before they put them on? And so it is with having access to public information. When you have the ability to see danger before it has a chance to strike, you have the power to change the course of events and even save a life.
Why Public Records Help
When the concept of public records was introduced to the United States, it was at a time when it was imperative that the government was transparent in all of its affairs. The difference between a fair democracy and a corrupt scandal lies within the communication between the community and its governing factors. Public records are a way to keep the government honest and the citizens informed. These records can also paint a clear picture of court proceedings, real estate transactions, police behavior, and more.
In order to maintain transparency, all of the official interactions between the government and the citizens are recorded and filed away for review for an indefinite amount of time. The kind of records that are particularly useful for keeping ourselves and our families safe are criminal records. Because all of the interaction between the accused and the prosecutors is through government channels, every step of the way is documented and recorded as a public record.
Because criminal records are considered public records, citizens have a right to see them. When citizens have access to public records, they can look into the pasts of the people that come around them and their families.
For instance, if you are going to hire a contractor to come into your home around your spouse and your children, you might want to know if the contractor has a history of criminal offenses. By having access to public records, you can find out all of the details you need to know about the individual before they even come to your house.
There are countless scenarios that are genuine concerns regarding the safety of yourself and the people you care about. Whenever you go out on a date with somebody new, or your child brings home a peculiar friend…or even when a shady-looking person moves into the house next door to yours.
How to Access Public Records
In the past, public records have not been easy to acquire. In order to obtain court records, driving records, phone records, or any other kind of public information, you had to physically visit the county of record and officially request the documents. In order to get the documents, you had to have all of the information regarding the record, including the full names of the people on the records, addresses, dates, etcetera.
Next, you would have to pay the fees that the county charged, then wait for a period of up to eight weeks to get the records.
Now that technology prevails in most cities on the planet, finding public records is much easier than it used to be. All that you have to do now is visit the SpyFly website, and you will have access to literally millions of public records.
- Criminal Records
- Police Records
- Arrest Records
- Felony Records
- Jail Records
- Driving Records
- Court Records
- State Records
- Phone Records
All of the records that you find using the SpyFly database are compiled into a convenient, easy-to-read report that contains detailed information about the person that you are exploring.
Court Records
Any time an individual goes to court for any reason, there is a record of it. The results of the proceedings can vary as much as the reasons for going to court. There is criminal court, family court, civil court, traffic court, and other types of courts, but all of them are facilitated by whatever governing factor is responsible for them.
Details about criminal cases can give you an outline of a person in regards to whether or not they are dangerous on a physical level. However, civil court records can uncover a different type of danger. If you run a background check on a person and find that they have a history of financial delinquencies and lawsuits, it can help you to decide whether or not you want to become partners in a financial opportunity that they propose to you.
Criminal Records and Arrest Records
Whenever you are seeking information about a person, one of the first things to check for is whether or not they have been in trouble with the law. However, it is important to keep in mind that there is a difference between a criminal record and an arrest record.
Whenever a police officer makes an arrest, the goal they have for the end result is to bring the accused criminal to justice through the court of law. With that being said, officers of the law can get pretty creative when they choose the charges to book an arrestee on.
For example, if a person is arrested for dealing drugs, the arresting officer can add charges to the offense that may or may not stick – such as attempted murder. Another creative charge is if the police arrest a 19-year-old for having consensual sex with a 17-year-old and charging the elder for the rape of a minor. Although the defendants may never be convicted for attempted murder or raping a minor, the arrest will stay on their record until the court chooses to remove them.
What this means to you as a person that is trying to remain diligent about keeping your family safe is that in order to keep everybody safe, pay attention to the details and don’t let fluffed up charges lead you into believing a person is a rapist or a murderer when they aren’t.
When you search for the truth, make sure that you see the real truth. Criminal records will show evidence that the person that you are inquiring about has been found guilty of a crime and has been convicted for it.
Police Records Felony Records and Jail Records
Although the United States is one country and the federal government regulates the way that the states handle their criminal systems, every state is different, and every county within each state is its own entity. In general, when a person comes into contact with the police, there will be a record of it of some type. Whether it is a lengthy, well-documented process from start to finish or a jotted down note from the police officer with a name and address, records are kept.
Police records have to do with the agency that came into contact with the suspect. There are different types of agencies that are in place to uphold the law. From city police officers to high-ranking FBI agents and everything in between, every officer has to keep records of their interactions with suspected criminals and witnesses of crimes.
Felony records are the same as criminal records, except that they are records for people that have committed more serious crimes. If a person has felony convictions in their past, it means that they were involved with serious criminal activity. Finding and obtaining felony records on SpyFly is as easy as typing in a name and clicking the mouse.
Jail records are the records that the jail keeps on individuals when they come in and get booked for charges. They are a lot like arrest records, but not all people that get arrested go to jail. Sometimes people can be arrested by the police and either let go because they are not involved with a crime or let go with a promise to appear in court.
When a suspect is booked into jail, the facility will record all of the information regarding the arrest and the booking process. The officers will collect the name, birthdate, fingerprints, and mugshot of the arrested person and save all of this information in a jail record that will attach to the rest of the court records that will be used to prosecute the suspect.
Driving Records State Records and Phone Records
In most cases, the only time that a driving incident is recorded is in the event of an accident or an infraction. It is not the typical practice of the government to document the times that you properly stop at a light or use your turn signal. The only time a driving record will become visible to the public that is not because of a ticket or something you did wrong is if you are involved in an accident that is not your fault. You can learn a lot about a person by viewing their driving records.
State records are available when you conduct searches using the SpyFly database. The difference between county, state, and federal records is the jurisdiction of the case and the agency that is responsible for the incident or subject that is being recorded. County records might not be visible in a federal or state record check. However, when you search for records using SpyFly, you can have access to all of the available records.
Phone records are only available when they become official conversations between the government and the community. An example of a public phone record would be the conversation of a 911 emergency call.
However, the numbers and the times of calls between the government and a citizen can be recorded as well and kept as public information.
Saving Lives with Public Information
Whenever you use public information as a tool to defend yourself as opposed to a weapon to cause harm, you become part of the solution. You never know who your neighbors are until you get a closer look at them. By accessing public records and discovering the kind of people that are near you, it could give you the information that you need in order to keep your family safe. Kind of like the same way that a wise person checks their shoes for scorpions before putting them on if they live in an area where scorpions are a problem.
We live in a world where anybody could be a potential threat. If you are able to see where those threats lie before they have a chance to become realities, you can most definitely stop horrible things before they happen. Save a life and learn the truth about people before you let them into your life.
DISCLAIMER: SpyFly provides affordable, immediate access to public record information. It is PROHIBITED by law to use our service or the information contained on our website to make decisions about employment, insurance, consumer credit, tenant screening, or for any other purpose subject to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 USC 1681 et seq. SpyFly does not provide private investigator services, consumer reports and is not a consumer reporting agency as defined by the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Please be EXTREMELY careful when reviewing a person’s criminal history. Please DO NOT use this information without further investigating the accuracy of the information. The information available on our website may not be complete, accurate, or current. For more information, please review Spyfly’s Terms of Use.